Who is Eva Jacqueline Longoria? The entertainment and acting world knows her a Eva Longoria, she is an American actress, best known for portraying Gabrielle Solis on the ABC television series Desperate Housewives. Longoria received a nomination for the 2006 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series for her performance on Desperate Housewives.Longoria first became famous on television in the soap opera The Young and the Restless. She became nationally recognized in the 2000s after appearing in several high-profile advertising campaigns and numerous men's magazines, reaching #14 in the FHM "Sexiest Women 2008" poll, and having appeared on the cover of various international women's magazines including Vogue, Marie Claire and Harper's Bazaar.[4]
Early life
Eva Jacqueline Longoria was born March 15, 1975 in Corpus Christi, Nueces County, Texas, the daughter of Tejano parents, Enrique Longoria, Jr. and Ella Eva Mireles.[5][6] She was raised Roman Catholic.[7] Longoria is the youngest of four daughters, her sisters being Elizabeth Judina, Emily Jeannette and Esmeralda Josephina.[8] The Longoria family have resided in Texas since before the creation of the United States, predating the English-speaking settlers.[9]Longoria originally wanted to be a fashion model and sent in photos to a modeling agency but was declined because of her height. Longoria attended Marvin P. Baker Middle School and later Roy Miller High School; she subsequently received her Bachelor of Science degree in kinesiology at nearby Texas A& M University-Kingsville. During this time, she won the title of Miss Corpus Christi, USA in 1998. After completing college, Longoria entered a talent contest that led her to Los Angeles, California; shortly after, she was spotted and signed by a theatrical agent.[8]
Career
Longoria landed her first television role in 2000, guest-starring in an episode of Beverly Hills, 90210. Another guest appearance in General Hospital the same year brought her big break on the popular American soap opera The Young and the Restless, in which she played psychotic Isabella Braña Williams from 2001 to 2003.After leaving The Young and the Restless, she was seen on the now-cancelled Dick Wolf revival of Dragnet. Although it lasted only two seasons, the show gave Longoria another leading star credit to her name. Following Dragnet, she starred in two ill-fated productions - Señorita Justice, a poorly received direct-to-video film, and a television film titled The Dead Will Tell.
In 2004, Longoria landed a role that elevated her to the A-List. She starred as adulteress Gabrielle Solis in the worldwide break-out ABC hit Desperate Housewives. As the show became an overnight sensation, Longoria's career was well and truly launched. But she has never considered her career to have jumped off so suddenly: "I think it’s funny when people say I’m an overnight sensation, because I’ve been working at it for 10 years."[10]
Shortly after her debut on Desperate Housewives, Longoria starred in a poorly received direct-to-video film titled Carlita's Secret, for which she was also co-producer. In 2006, she was rewarded for her performance as Gabrielle Solis in Desperate Housewives when she was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy along with her co-stars. Even though neither Longoria nor any of the rest of the cast won, she was awarded the ALMA Award and named entertainer of the year. She also starred opposite Michael Douglas and Kiefer Sutherland in the 2006 thriller The Sentinel, which was her first major role in a theatrical movie. In 2006 she played the character Sylvia in Harsh Times starring Freddy Rodriguez and Christian Bale.She has expressed "confusion" over fellow Housewives actress Nicolette Sheridan's lawsuit against the Desperate Housewives series creator Marc Cherry.[11]
People en Español listed her among its "Most Beautiful People" for 2003. Longoria continues to be included in lists of Hollywood's Most Beautiful and was listed #1 in Maxim's Hottest Female Stars of 2005 and 2006, becoming the first woman to top the list in two consecutive years. She was ranked #9 in the magazine's Hot 100 of 2007 list.[12] In honor of Maxim's 100th issue in 2006, Longoria was featured on a 75-by-110-foot (23 by 34 m) vinyl mesh replica of its January 2005 cover located in a Las Vegas metropolitan area desert.[13]
In January 2007, Longoria was chosen to be the first face of Bebe Sport. She appeared in the Spring/Summer 2007 campaign, photographed by Greg Kadel. The actress also holds model contracts with L'Oréal and Hanes, New York & Co.[14] Longoria also has a contract with Magnum Ice-Cream,[15] Heineken,[16] and with L'Oréal.[17] She is a part of Microsoft's "I'm A PC" ad campaign,[18] and she and Tony Parker have appeared together in campaigns for London Fog.[19]
In October 2010, it was announced that Longoria would host the MTV Europe Music Awards 2010 in Madrid, Spain.[20][21]
Business activities
Eva Longoria opened the restaurant Beso (in Spanish: "Kiss") in Hollywood, along with partner and celebrity chef Todd English, in March 2008. The restaurant is located on Hollywood Boulevard and is accompanied by Kiss, a Victorian-themed nightclub above the restaurant.[22] The Hollywood Beso was scheduled to be the focus of a pilot episode for a tentative reality series called Beso: Waiting on Fame which would air on VH1 in late 2010.[23]In 2009, Longoria and various investor-partners opened a Beso restaurant, with a nightclub called Eve above it, in the Crystals retail and entertainment district of CityCenter in Las Vegas.[22]
In 2011, the corporation Beso LLC, owner of the Vegas restaurant-and-nighclub venture, with listed assets of about $2.5 million and Eva Longoria as a 32 percent shareholder, filed for Chapter 11 protection, entering bankruptcy proceedings, in order to restructure nearly $5.7 million in debt and other liabilities.[24] Longoria stated she's looking "forward to a more pro-active, hands-on approach in the coming years" with her Las Vegas business interests.[25]
Longoria released the fragrance "EVA by Eva Longoria", a "clean citrus-floral eau de parfum", in April 2010. She stated she wanted a fragrance she could wear: "I am allergic to most fragrances. There was nothing I could wear without my eyes watering, my nose starting to itch or sneezing." [26]
Commercials
Eva Longoria became a spokesperson for L'Oreal Paris in 2005 and has continued to feature in L'Oreal TV commercials and print ads until the year 2010.Some L’Oreal TV commercial and print ads include: L'Oreal's Vive Smooth Intense Signature Haircare products (05-06), Couleur Experte All-Over Color hair-color (06-07), L'Oréal Color-Expert (France), Colour Riche protective lip colour (07-08), Couleur Experte Express multi-tone hair color system (08), Couleur Experte Express multi-tone hair color system (08),L'Oréal Paris' Sublime Bronze Pro-Perfect Airbrush Self-Tanning Mist (08), Voluminous Mascara & Eyeliner (08-09), Superior Preference fade Defying hair color (08,09),Superior Preference fade Defying hair color (09), True Match super-blendable compact makeup (09), EverPure Sulfate-Free Color Care System for Hair (09), Hydra-Collagen Volumizing Mascara (09), Excellence-to-Go- 10 minute haircolour (09),Ideal Skin Genesis complexion equalizer (10),True Match Roller roll on makeup (10),True Match Roller roll on makeup with Evangeline Lilly (10), and lastly L'Oreal Paris' "Studio Secrets" Color Smokes Shadows eye color (10).[27]
Eva Longoria states that she has found a “generous spirit” [28] at L’Oreal. She continues to say “L’Oreal Paris wants beauty to be free, without borders or prejudices….Working together was just meant to be.” [28]
Personal life
Relationships
Longoria was married to General Hospital star Tyler Christopher from 2002 to 2004.[29]
Longoria met Spurs point guard Tony Parker in November 2004. In August 2005, Longoria confirmed she and Parker were dating, and on November 30, 2006, the couple became engaged.[30] They were officially married in a civil service on Friday, July 6, 2007, at a Paris city hall. This is a requirement of French law. It was followed by a full Roman Catholic wedding ceremony at the Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois Church in Paris, France on Saturday, July 7, 2007.[31]Their marriage had its first ordeal when French model Alexandra Paressant claimed to have had an affair with Parker.[32] Both Parker and Longoria vehemently denied these allegations through their spokespeople, saying "All high profile couples fall victim to these sorts of things in the course of their relationships. It appears that this is not the first time this woman has used an athlete to gain public notoriety."[33][dead link] Parker initiated a $20 million lawsuit against the website that first reported the story, which later issued a full retraction and an apology, stating "X17online.com and X17, Inc. regret having been misled by Ms. Paressant and her representatives and apologize to Mr. Parker for any damage or inconvenience this may have caused him or his wife."[34]
On November 17, 2010, Longoria filed for divorce from Parker in Los Angeles, citing "irreconcilable differences".[35] In the divorce petition, Longoria, who had taken Parker's last name, requested her maiden name be restored. She also sought spousal support from Parker.[36] The couple had a prenuptial agreement that was signed in June 2007, the month before their wedding, and amended two years later in June 2009.[37] The same day as the divorce filing, Longoria confirmed to her friend Mario Lopez, host of Extra, that she had discovered hundreds of text messages from another woman on her husband's phone.[38] Extra identified the other woman as Erin Barry, the former wife of Brent Barry, Parker's former teammate, and revealed that the Barrys were also in the process of divorcing.[39] Lopez further stated that Longoria believed Parker had cheated on her earlier in the marriage with another woman, with whom he had kept in touch via Facebook. Lopez said, "Eva wants everyone to know, she's devastated by the rumors of Tony's infidelity. She loved her husband and is heartbroken about their split...But she's strong."[40] In light of the divorce, Longoria cancelled her scheduled appearance at the 2010 American Music Awards.[38] On November 19, 2010, Parker filed for divorce from Longoria in Bexar County, Texas[41] on the grounds of "discord or conflict of personalities", thus establishing a legal battle over where the divorce case would be heard. Unlike Longoria's divorce petition, Parker's did not mention a prenuptial agreement and claimed that the parties would "enter into an agreement for the division of their estate".[42] The divorce was finalized in Texas on January 28, 2011, the same day Longoria's lawyer filed papers to dismiss her Los Angeles petition.[43]
Longoria had previously stated her intention to move to France with Parker upon the completion of Desperate Housewives.[44]
Ancestry
Despite working on a farmland that had been handed down to them from past generations, the family often had very little money; Enrique and Ella struggled for many years to give their children a decent upbringing. On The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2006, Longoria shared with viewers an introspective look into the hardships she faced in her formative years while growing up poor; she took cameras on location to the family farm and showed how spartan their life had been. Longoria admitted that only when she had made it in show business, did things begin to look better for her family financially. In another interview with Dateline's Stone Phillips, she also revealed the snubbing she had received from her siblings. "I grew up as the ugly duckling. They used to call me 'la prieta fea,' which means 'the ugly dark one,'" Longoria said.[45]According to research done by Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., of Harvard University, in 2010 for the PBS series Faces of America, Longoria's ancestry is 70% European, 27% Asian/Native American, and 3% African.[46][47] Her Spanish ancestry can be traced back to her ninth great-grandfather, Lorenzo Suarez de Longoria (b. Oviedo, 1592), who emigrated to the Viceroyalty of New Spain, which became modern-day Mexico, in 1603, and whose family originated from a small village called Llongoria, Belmonte de Miranda, Asturias, Spain. Longoria is the Spanish spelling of the surname.[48][49] Through the generations, Longoria's ancestors moved north to the modern US-Mexico border. In 1767, her 7th great-grandfather received almost 4,000 acres (16 km2) of land along the Rio Grande in a land grant from the King of Spain. This land stayed in the family for over a century, enduring through the influx of Anglo settlers in the aftermath of the Mexican-American War and American Civil War. After a computer compared the DNA results of Gates’ dozen guests, test showed that she is genetically related to cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who is of Chinese heritage.[46] She concluded to want to learn more on her Aztec heritage.[50][51]
Philanthropy
In 2006, Longoria founded Eva's Heroes, a charity which helps developmentally disabled children.[52] She is the national spokesperson for PADRES Contra El Cancer.[53] She signed shoes for the Spirit of Women Red Shoe Celebrity Auction. Longoria also supports the Clothes Off Our Back Foundation, OmniPeace, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the National Stroke Association, Project HOME and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.[54] Longoria is also an executive producer of Shine Global Inc.'s upcoming documentary The Harvest which is focused on the 500,000 child migrant farm workers in the U.S. and is currently helping them fundraise for the film.[55] Longoria was named Philanthropist of the year by the Hollywood Reporter for 'her commitment to Latino causes and giving back to the community.[56] She appeared on Fort Boyard in 2009, making over €20,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.[57]In 2009, Longoria enrolled in a Master's program in Chicano Studies and Political Science at Cal State University, Northridge. According to Eva, "because of my involvement with the NCLR and my charity work, I really wanted a better, more authentic understanding of what my community has gone through so I can help create change."[58]
In September 2009, Longoria was appointed to a bi-partisan commission issued with the task of determining the feasibility of the creation of a National Museum of the American Latino.[59]
Filmography
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Snitch'd | Gabby | direct-to-video |
| 2004 | Señorita Justice | Det. Roselyn Martinez | direct-to-video |
| 2004 | The Dead Will Tell | Jeanie | Television film |
| 2004 | Carlita's Secret | Carlita / Lexus | direct-to-video |
| 2005 | Harsh Times | Sylvia | |
| 2006 | The Sentinel | Jill Marum | |
| 2007 | The Heartbreak Kid | Consuela | |
| 2008 | Over Her Dead Body | Katherine "Kate" Spencer | |
| 2008 | Lower Learning | Rebecca Seabrook | |
| 2009 | Foodfight! | Lady X | Unreleased |
| 2010 | Days of Grace | Unknown | Post-production |
| 2010 | Without Men | Rosalba | Post-production |
| 2011 | Cristiada | Unknown | Post production |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Beverly Hills, 90210 | Flight Attendant #3 | "I Will Be Your Father Figure" (Season 10, episode 19) |
| 2000 | General Hospital | Brenda Barrett Lookalike | "Episode dated 25 September 2000" (uncredited) |
| 2001– 2003 | The Young and the Restless | Isabella Braña Williams | "Episode #1.7136" "Episode #1.7142" "Episode #1.7149" "Episode #1.7261" |
| 2003– 2004 | Dragnet | Det. Gloria Duran | "Daddy's Girl" (Season 2, episode 1) "Coyote" (Season 2, episode 2) "17 in 6" (Season 2, episode 3) "The Magic Bullet" (Season 2, episode 4) "Slice of Life" (Season 2, episode 5) "Abduction" (Season 2, episode 6) "Frame of Mind" (Season 2, episode 7) "Retribution" (Season 2, episode 8) "Riddance" (Season 2, episode 9) "Killing Fields" (Season 2, episode 10) |
| 2004– present | Desperate Housewives | Gabrielle Solis | Main role |
| 2006 | George Lopez | Brooke | "George Vows to Make Some Matri-Money" (Season 5, episode 19) |
| 2008 | Childrens Hospital | The New Chief | "Episode #1.10" (Season 2, episode 10) |
Awards and nominations
| Year | Result | Award | Category | Film or series |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Won | ALMA Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama | The Young and the Restless |
| 2006 | Won | Person of the Year | ||
| 2007 | Won | Bambi Award | TV Series International | Desperate Housewives |
| 2005 | Nominated | DVD Exclusive Awards | Best Actress (in a DVD Premiere Movie) | Carlita's Secret |
| 2006 | Nominated | Golden Globe Award | Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy | Desperate Housewives |
| 2005 | Nominated | Imagen Foundation Awards | Best Actress - Television | Desperate Housewives |
| 2007 | Nominated | Best Actress - Television | Desperate Housewives | |
| 2007 | Won | People's Choice Awards | Favorite Female TV Star | Desperate Housewives |
| 2005 | Won | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Desperate Housewives (Shared with cast) |
| 2006 | Won | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Desperate Housewives (Shared with cast) | |
| 2007 | Nominated | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Desperate Housewives (Shared with cast) | |
| 2008 | Nominated | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Desperate Housewives (Shared with cast) | |
| 2009 | Nominated | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Desperate Housewives (Shared with cast) | |
| 2005 | Nominated | Teen Choice Awards | Choice TV Actress: Comedy | Desperate Housewives |
| Won | Choice TV Breakout Performance - Female | Desperate Housewives | ||
| 2006 | Nominated | TV - Choice Actress: Comedy | Desperate Housewives | |
| 2007 | Nominated | TV - Choice Actress: Comedy | Desperate Housewives | |
| 2010 | Nominated | Choice Female Red Carpet Icon | Herself |
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